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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24881608">Missing</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkshakepopcorn/pseuds/milkshakepopcorn'>milkshakepopcorn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Legend of Zelda &amp; Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/M, Fluff and Angst, One Shot, Short One Shot, this is pretty soft ngl guys i intended it to be sadder than it is</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 11:07:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,468</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24881608</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkshakepopcorn/pseuds/milkshakepopcorn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Link remembers a conversation with Zelda. </p>
<p>(Inspired by but not based on Memory Seven - West Nucluda because it's one of my favourites).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>43</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Missing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Howdy ho hi. This is the first piece I've ever written for LoZ, so I apologise in advance haha whelp</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I don't own anything yadda yadda yadda.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Since the moment he’d woken up, Link had been drawn to the twisted tree opposite Scout’s Hill. He didn’t understand why at first. He found it almost comforting to sit under the protruding rock and just let time stop. He fit snugly there, was protected from the rain, and the sounds surrounding him were some of the most calming he’d heard since the moment he’d emerged from the Shrine of Resurrection. Sometimes, he could swear he felt some kind of presence there with him, as though a spirit had come to sit at his side and cloud-watch with him. Other times, there was no presence at all, but a whole mess of complicated feelings swirling around inside, biting at his ragged soul like fanged beasts of old. The feeling of grief, the feeling of hope. Something else he couldn’t identify. It all overcame him, overwhelmed him. Sometimes, it was too much and he would have to stand up and continue onwards, hoping he could reach a stable or inn to escape.</p>
<p>But it didn’t matter. Because no matter how overwhelming those feelings often were, Link always found himself going back, drawn there as if by a string.</p>
<p>Then his memories of her returned to him, and he began to understand why he was so attached to that strange, twisted tree.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <i>“Here again,” Zelda sighed. “I’m beginning to think there is a little more than coincidence at work here.”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Link almost laughed, but managed to catch himself before he did.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>She had a point. It seemed that every time it rained, they found themselves at this very same tree, as though it was beckoning. If he were a little more superstitious, he would suggest a Great Fairy or the Goddess Hylia was trying to tell them something by pushing them back to Scout’s Hill again and again and again. But he couldn’t afford to be superstitious. Superstition was another word for fear for many throughout Hyrule, and fear was something chosen heroes weren’t allowed to express.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Well, it’s good shelter, I suppose,” she said.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>And without waiting for an answer (she’d given up by this point), she strode away from him, seating herself beneath the tree and looking up at him with an expectant expression.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>He didn’t say anything when he joined her. Just settled beside her, keeping a careful distance between the two of them, keeping his eyes alert as he looked out at the view. And an impressive view it was, too, with the bridge towering in the distance and the black clouds bearing down on the kingdom. The scent of rain-stained grass met his nose, the pitter-patter of water falling laughing in his ears. It was all very calming. If it wasn’t so cold, he would be inclined to fall asleep here.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>He felt Zelda’s eyes on him, but he didn’t look at her. One of them had to be prepared for an attack, and she was far too easily distracted for it to be her.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“May I ask you a question?” Zelda asked.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>He wasn’t at all surprised. Ever since she’d realised he did, in fact, have a working tongue, she seemed desperate to interrogate him. He didn’t really blame her. They spent so much time together. The walls he put up must frustrate her, and he wasn’t exactly discouraging her slow, steady attempts to break them down. He was beginning to realise he liked talking to her, which was strange. </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Realising he still hadn’t answered, he quickly nodded.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Have you always known you are special?” she asked.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>He frowned. It was a complicated question. Had he?</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Perhaps not special,” he answered softly, “but I felt different.”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Even as a child?”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>He shrugged. </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>She seemed to need a minute to process this, because she didn’t say anything for a while. They just sat in comfortable, companionable silence, watching the rain fall. Link could barely keep his eyes off it. It was somehow hypnotic, watching all the water weep from the clouds. The hero and the princess sat together and Hyrule wept.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Things were changing. And sometimes it felt too fast -- the Calamity would be here any day now and Link didn’t feel prepared, didn’t feel ready or strong or anything at all. Other times, it felt slow. It felt like they didn’t even need to worry about it. It felt like they could waste all their time here, sitting together, talking in voices so low no creature could hear them. It felt almost secret, like this was their place and theirs alone. The tree opposite Scout’s Hill belonged to no one but them.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Zelda broke the comfortable silence with a quiet, “I always felt different, too. It felt like nobody would ever really understand. Even my father. It felt like wherever I went, whatever I did, I never belonged.”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>He tore his eyes away from the rain, turning them on her. She wasn’t looking directly at him, but he saw her peeking at him from under her eyelashes. She seemed almost bashful, embarrassed, as if this was something she’d never spoken about before.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“I understand,” he said. And he did. The pressures of being chosen outweighed the honour. For what honour did it serve, growing up to die?</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>She looked up properly, meeting his gaze.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“You really do, don’t you?” she said. And smiled.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>And he didn’t know what it was. Perhaps it was because he was so tired. Perhaps it was because he felt like a small weight had been lifted. Perhaps it was just because the rain seemed to wash away everything, letting them have this moment inside another world, a world in which Calamity Ganon didn’t exist and they were chosen for nothing but life.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>But her smile brought a fluttering feeling to his gut. And he decided, there and then, that her smile was one of the most beautiful things in this forsaken land.</i>
</p><hr/>
<p>He was so tired. So damned tired. He was sick of this, all of it. Fighting to remember, fighting to save the kingdom. How could he win a battle so great as this when he didn’t even know who he was?</p>
<p>The clues lay in her. He knew it. He felt it. It was as though they were attached to each other with an invisible string, and with every day he spent struggling against the beasts the Calamity had brought, he felt her resolve grow stronger and stronger. Did she know he was coming for her? Did she feel his resolve, too? </p>
<p>The rain had stopped, and the air was already beginning to clear up. He stood up, stretching, taking off his hood and staring up at the skies. Birds were circling the mountains far off in the distance. He’d have to go and check what, exactly, they were circling. But first, he really needed a bed and a hot meal.</p>
<p>So he continued down the hills and roads, dragging his feet and trying to ignore the weary ache in the very marrow of his bones, and thought of the only thing keeping him going on this bizarre quest. He’d woken up with nothing, confused and disorientated. And from the very beginning, he’d heard her voice, had felt her presence and knew she was depending on him. It was no wonder he had wanted to help her, even before he’d truly understood who she was to him. From the moment he’d woken up once more, she’d always been there. And if the memories he recalled around Scout’s Hill gave him anything, it was a new drive.</p>
<p>A hundred years ago, he had decided her smile was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.</p>
<p>And now, he would do anything to see that smile again. In real life. With his own two eyes. Old, ancient eyes that had seen too much and yet not enough. Kind, patient eyes that sought her in the wild even before he knew her. He would go to her, and he would find her, and they would end this war together. </p>
<p>But for now, she would continue to fight Calamity Ganon inside Hyrule Castle, and he would continue to fight for her freedom apart from her. They’d find each other again. He just hoped that she held onto that, and knew that when she felt that hope within her, when she thought of him, she, too, would find her drive. </p>
<p>
  <i>Wait for me. Trust that I will come.</i>
</p>
<p>And though she was missing from him, he knew she wasn't missing. She remained within him, a spark of light that whispered reassurances. She had been waiting for him for a very long time, and no matter how tired he grew, no matter how devastating the burdens of death and destruction continued to grow, he was determined that she wouldn't have to wait much longer.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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